That isn’t because Stewart acts aloof when he’s in a sprint-car garage. It’s because even though he has three won NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, he’s just like everyone else, putting on his firesuit on one leg at a time.

That’s the way Stewart likes it, and that’s why many in the sprint-car world speak highly of him. They’ve raced against him, and they’ve raced at three tracks where he is invested as an owner or co-owner.

“He kind of stays to himself when he’s at these kind of races,” Campbell said before getting into his sprint car to race Friday night. “Because of his notoriety, people want to be around him. … He’s an awesome guy.

“To us, he’s a regular racer.”

Campbell was one of 19 sprint-car racers who buckled into their vehicles Friday night at Butler Speedway, a 0.375-mile dirt oval a 45-minute drive down mostly two-lane roads from Michigan International Speedway. He isn’t a professional racer in the sense that it’s not where he makes his living but he’s a professional racer in the sense that it is his passion and he competes in a high-horsepower, lightweight vehicle that is like riding a bull at 900 horsepower.

It’s easy to see why Stewart loves this kind of racing, away from the spotlight at tracks such as Butler, where there isn’t even a wall around the track — get too high in the banking and the car can go off the dirt racing surface and down the small embankment. With equal horsepower and less than half the weight of a NASCAR stock car, drivers hustle these machines much more than the engineering exercise that dominates Cup racing.

“On any dirt track, probably the driver means more,” said Dave Blaney, the 1995 World of Outlaws champion who eventually migrated to NASCAR racing. “Because the track is slower and it takes finesse to get them hooked up and to search around (for a line).

“I’ve raced with [Stewart] plenty. He’s like me. He just likes to come and do it.”

On this night, the UNOH All-Star Sprints feature many drivers who race at the track on a weekly basis. It wouldn’t be rare, though, for Stewart to show up at a race like this. Before the age of cell-phone video and Twitter, he could even show up under an assumed name, possibly so he wouldn’t get in trouble with his car owner or to avoid attention. Several years ago when he was asked whether he was going to a short track to race Sprint cars during Daytona 500 week, he said “No” while nodding his head — a message to everyone to keep the spotlight away and not ruin his fun.

“He’s definitely one of the guys,” said longtime sprint-car racer Jac Haudenschild, who has been racing for 40 years and is a member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. “I’ve never had no trouble. He’s always raced clean with me.”

But trouble found Stewart on Aug. 9, when he was racing a similar type of car — one with a 360-cubic-inch engine instead of a 410 — when he hit Kevin Ward Jr., killing the 20-year-old driver in an Empire Super Sprints event at Canandaigua (N.Y.) Motorsports Park.

Ward climbed out of his car and walked toward Stewart, apparently angry over what he believed was a Stewart-caused crash. Drivers say you’re never supposed to leave your car because of the limited visibility caused by the big wing that sits above the driver in a sprint car.

“You’ve seen in the video — I believe if it wasn’t Tony Stewart, he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of his car,” Randy Hannagan, a sprint-car racer who competes nationally, said in a phone interview this week.

It’s not rare for a young driver to try harder around Stewart. Sprint Cup driver Kyle Larson, who earned his NASCAR ride because of the talent he displayed in sprint cars, admits it was natural for him to race harder against Stewart.

“Tony is a tough competitor so he races hard in a stockcar, a sprint car and a midget, street car whatever,” the 22-year-old Larson said Friday at Michigan. “Before I got to NASCAR, racing with Tony Stewart was awesome. You would see his trailer pull in the track and you would get more amped up and try a little bit harder.”

Stewart, who broke a leg in a sprint-car race last year, doesn’t race harder against local sprint racers than he does when he’s racing Cup cars or try to teach other drivers a lesson. He doesn’t do anything different, other drivers say.

“It’s not that we have to step up our game,” said Hannagan, who finished second to Stewart in Stewart’s return to sprint-car racing in July, and then won the race with Stewart finishing third the following night.

“He has to step up his because he is coming into foreign territory. That being said, that doesn’t mean he is going to race us any harder or any less or be mindful of point situations.”

Hannagan said Stewart is nice to other drivers.

“He’s been really gracious with the drivers,” Hannagan said. “I think people are intimidated by him. You couldn’t help being intimidated by him.”

The only ones not intimidated might be the youngsters at the track. Stewart has a soft spot for kids, and Hannagan said Stewart was nice to his son when he tried to sell Stewart some shock covers he made.

That’s the culture of short-track racing. Kids peddling items. Wives helping make sure their husbands have everything they need (or vice versa). Families sitting in the stands screaming at the top of their lungs.

They go, they race in heats, they eat a cheeseburger from the concession stand, they race, their families cheer and they go home. They don’t necessarily need ESPN to bring them joy or a sense of accomplishment. A safe night, one hopefully with a trophy, is all they need.

Dale Blaney, Dave’s brother, won the race Friday night at Bulter Speedway. Dale didn’t want to talk about Stewart, and he wasn’t the only driver who has raced Stewart to politely decline talking about the Ward tragedy. They were there to race.

Stewart "wants to be just one of the guys and just be a regular person that comes in and races and runs your race, win or lose, and you go home,” Hannagan said.

“It’s the people that glorify Tony Stewart that make it uncomfortable, not only for him but for us, too.”

Those who did talk were quick to say that they believe Ward’s death was an accident, saying drivers shouldn’t and usually don’t get out of their cars and approach other drivers or cars while under caution. They believe that Stewart possibly never saw Ward.

They emphasize that what drivers do to send a message in stockcars — bump another driver — rarely happens in sprints. Most accidents are just the result of either hard racing or mistakes.

“Nobody runs into anybody on purpose with these,” Dave Blaney said. “You just can’t. If you hit him with your wheel, most likely you’re going upside-down. That’s really non-existent.”

Sure, there are arguments. But those happen more often in the garage or under a red flag, not when cars are still rolling around the track. Most of the competitors look out for each other.

Campbell has raced sprint cars for 25 years. He would race every day if he had the money.

“You’re never in control,” Campbell said. “You are but you aren’t. A racecar driver doesn’t drive around there because it’s easy to drive.